Peace Offerings
by Girlygirl
Summary: It's Christmas and Lindsay is all alone because she's new to New York but then why is Danny the one sleeping in the break room? One shot DannyLindsay Christmas piece.


Okay, let me start by saying that I watch CSI: Las Vegas and that I've only seen one CSI: New York episode which so happened to be with Lindsay and not Aiden. I really liked Lindsay and Danny, I thought they were very cute and this story was supposed to be a Nick/Sara piece but Lindsay/Danny took over. I hope I did these characters and this couple justice but the fic kind of just wrote itself. I don't know much about either character, I tried finding out as much as I could but there wasn't much on the net so if I'm completely wrong about everything we can all think of this piece as an AU. Anyway it's a little holiday piece and I'd really appreciate reviews whether you liked it or not. I own nothing; I'm just borrowing CBS' toys for a while.

**Peace Offerings**

Lindsay blinked rapidly, rubbing her eyes as she looked away from the computer and yawned. Her back cracked as she stretched and her muscles protested as she stood. She glanced at the clock and knew that her shift had been over for an hour already but she couldn't bring herself to go home to her empty apartment; especially when her case was going no where; especially not tonight. She yawned again as she headed for the break room for a cup of coffee. At this point she didn't care if it was cold weak coffee, she'd take anything.

She stopped when she noticed Danny Messer stretched out along the couch sleeping, his chest rising and falling softly. She found herself wondering what the hell he was still doing there as she poured herself a cup of coffee. From what she knew, Danny was a native New Yorker which meant he had family he could be spending Christmas Eve with. Again she rubbed her eyes, reminding herself that she had a case to get back to and pulling her eyes away from him she headed to the door. Maybe if she got in another two hours she'd consider taking a break and crashing on the break room couch too. Given Danny had shuffled off by then.

He watched her walk away, pretending to have been asleep the whole time. He had been re-reading his case file when he'd heard footsteps and knew right away if it was Mac are Stella they'd kill him for still being there. He hadn't expected Lindsay Monroe to paddle into the break room looking as if she hadn't slept in days but he didn't move. Her light vanilla scent assaulted his senses as she walked by and he found himself comparing it to Aiden's strong flowery scent. He could feel her watching him as she poured herself a cup of coffee but she made no move to wake him before she rubbed her eyes and headed for the door. It was as he watched her walk away that he realized just how lonely she must be, spending Christmas Eve in a new city all alone. By the tired look on her face, he knew that she was pushing herself to keep working so as not to have to go home and it worried him. He sat up, running a hand threw his hair before standing and decided that they could help each other out. Given Lindsay was up to it.

He found her sleeping peacefully in front of the computer with the cup of coffee long finished and sitting besides her. Her head was turned to the side, her hair falling into her face and her one arm hung off of the armrest. His heart jumped at the sight of her but he ignored it as he crutched and gently touched her arm.

"Hey, Montana." When she didn't stir he shook her, and was unprepared for her to snap away and jerk away from him, fear evident in her eyes. His eyebrows knitted in confusion.

"Hey, hey, it's just me." She pushed her chair away from him as her eyes focused and she realized who he was. Quickly she looked away and back at the computer which had yet to deliver on any results.

"Are you okay, Montana?" she pushed out of her chair, grabbed her cup of coffee and looked at him with a smile.

"I'm fine, sorry about that, you scared me." She tried to brush past him but he grabbed her arm stilling her in her place.

"What was that about?" he asked, because if anyone knew about past demons and what they could do to a person it was him.

"It was nothing, I just need more coffee." She pulled away from him and started down the hall towards the break room hoping that he would just drop it and leave her alone. Unfortunately for her, she'd sparked his interest and he followed, catching up with her as she turned into the break room.

"I understand that coffee makes people jumpy, Montana but that was something else." She poured another cup of coffee, ignoring him, and was about to bring it to her lips when he grabbed it from her and poured it down the sink.

"Hey, I'm talking to you Monroe." He stood much to close to her, close enough for her to feel his angry, hot breath on her neck and she placed her hands on his chest to push him away.

"Let it go, Danny, I'm not grilling you on why you're sleeping in the break room instead of spending Christmas Eve with your family am I?" It had nothing to do with anything they were talking about but there was a part of her that wanted to know why he'd chose work over family. "My God, if I knew this was going to happen I would never have come in for coffee at all." She ranted, pushed hair out of her face and crossing her arms across her chest to glare at him. He grabbed her elbows, bringing her a couple inches closer as his eyes softened.

"I was just worried," and in turn her eyes softened as well and she gave him a small smile.

"Well don't be, I'm fine," He knew that that was a line Lindsay Monroe had perfected; no hitch in her voice, no waver, no hesitation in her eyes. Lindsay was perfect at lying about her wellbeing. "I can take care of myself." In a move that was completely un-Danny like he let it go with a nod.

"I know you can Montana, but I'm still going to worry." He rubbed her arms unknowingly.

"You really shouldn't waste your time." She laughed, moving away from him and retrieving her cup from the sink.

"No, no, no-" he grabbed the cup back, again placing it into the sink and guiding her towards the door. "I have a better idea," he smirked and she began to panic slightly until he laughed and whispered into her ear.

"You've got nothing to worry about, Montana, trust me." Trust him? She barley knew him and yet here she was letting him help her into his car before he slid into the driver's seat and took off.

"I figured if I asked you to dinner, you'd say no so I didn't give you a choice." They pulled into the parking lot of the diner and she nodded as she got out and they walk towards the door. The bells jingled, signaling the arrival of more customers and a waitress with bright pink hair smiled at them as they seated themselves in a booth in the far back. The diner was more or less deserted, in was Christmas Eve after all and Danny pulled a menu out from behind the sugar holder and handed it to her.

"They serve breakfast all day, or you can get something else." She cocked a perfectly shaped eyebrow at him.

"Been here before?" She asked looking back down at the menu and the chicken sandwich starring back up at her.

"I'm here all the time," he answered watching the pink haired waitress make her way over with a cup of coffee in her hand.

"Here you go Danny, are you going to have the usual?" she asked handing him the coffee and pulling the pad of paper and a pen out of her apron; Danny nodded.

"Yeah, Taylor, same as always." He flashed her a smile which she returned.

"And what about you?" Lindsay noted the way Taylor batted her eyes at Danny, the way she smiled at him and the way she stood looking slightly annoyed at her and she suppressed a grin.

"I'll just have pancakes with a coffee please." She looked at the girl who snapped her gum loudly as she jotted down the order then smiled at Danny before disappearing the way she came. Once Taylor was out of earshot Lindsay let out a small laugh.

"What is it Montana?" Danny asked, watching as she tilted her head to gaze at him.

"You do know that she had a thing for you right?" to her surprise he actually blushed which she took to mean yes he did know.

"Yeah, I try not to come in here without a woman if I know she's working." He admitted, making sure Taylor wasn't anywhere near; Lindsay nodded at him as they lapsed into silence. He sat watching her, loving the way she seemed to glow. He loved the way her dark hair seemed to create a halo around her head and the way her deep dark eyes seems so dark it was hard for him to differ the pupil from the iris. She noticed and shifted uncomfortably under his gaze until Taylor returned, startling Danny as she placed their orders in front of them.

"There you go," again she snapped her gum and smiled at Danny who gave her a wide smile back.

"Thank you." Lindsay said, pouring a small amount of syrup on top of her pancakes and cutting a piece to pop into her mouth.

"You just wave me over if you need anything." Lindsay rolled her eyes, suspecting that Taylor was only talking to Danny and by the tone in her voice she sure as hell meant 'anything'.

"Screw her on top of one of the table already. Just let her get you out of her system before I vomit." Danny chocked on a piece of toast as he looked at the girl across from him, then looked to see if the pink haired waitress was far enough away not to have heard that.

"Pardon?" he asked, he couldn't believe she'd just said that.

"Oh, you heard me Messer. Honestly if I have to watch the girl throw herself at you anymore it's going to be a waste of me paying for this food seeing as I'm going to be bring it up." She took a sip of her coffee as she looked at him over the rime of her cup with a smirk. "You just wave me over if you need anything." Lindsay mocked, trying and failing at copying the waitresses' raw New York accent which caused Danny to laugh out loud. She blushed, taking another bit of her pancakes and locking eyes with him.

"Don't do that again," his laugh subsided into a light chuckle, causing her to laugh a little.

"Sorry," but he shook his head at her.

"What are you apologizing for, Montana?" But then he noticed the easy way she apologized and he wondered if she had spent a lot of her life saying sorry. She shrugged.

"I don't know, I just, the accent…I'm sorry." She looked down and away from him, fumbling over excuses until she finally gave up all together.

"Don't apologize, you didn't do anything wrong." He reached across the table to touch her hand so that she's look back at him but it seemed she was a pro at avoiding his eyes.

"Okay, sorry." She cringed, a small groan escaping her as she apologized for apologizing.

"So why New York?" he asked her, leaning back to observe her as she considered his question.

"Why not? Plus New York had a job opening." She told him with a smile before she turned the tables on him.

"So why are you spending Christmas Eve at the lab instead of going home?" she asked; oh how she wanted to know.

"I'm not spending Christmas Eve at the lab, I'm spending it with you at a diner and believe me that's a hell of a lot better then going home." He pushed his plate away, his demeanor becoming darker. Lindsay formed a small 'oh' with her mouth but she didn't make a sound, wondering if maybe she'd pushed too far. But something beyond her control made her push on.

"Why? Why is spending Christmas Eve here better?" she covered her mouth with her hands the second she said it and her eyes went wide. What had possessed her to probe?

"Why did you jerk away from me at the lab?" he countered his voice low and rough as he pushed out of the booth and made his way to the counter to pay; she followed pulling out her wallet in the process. His body stood ridged and tense and she knew not to push the issue but when she took ten dollars out of her wallet and laid it on the counter beside his arm he snapped at her.

"Keep it, I got this." The harsh tone of his voice made her jump and she nodded dumbly as she moved towards the door, needing fresh air and a moment away from him. She stood shivering beside his car when he finally appeared and she slip into the passenger seat without a word. Try as she might she couldn't stop her teeth from chattering as they drove in silence and she hoped he wouldn't say anything.

"You shouldn't have waited outside, you're going to make yourself sick." He hissed, never once looking at her. Lindsay turned towards the window, successfully stopping her chattering teeth as she fogged up his window with her breathe.

"Don't worry about me, I'm fine." And he knew that any progress he'd made with her tonight was gone; he didn't make a move to fix it. She bolted from the car the second it pulled into the lab parking lot and he called out to her softly but settled for watching her go when she didn't answer. He pulled a hand threw his hair and cursed himself for snapping.

The next morning he strolled into the break room and he wasn't surprised to see her there, hunched over a case file with her hair pulled into a messy ponytail. Beside her sat two extra large Starbucks cups and the smell of coffee rose to meet him.

"Merry Christmas," he announced his presents and stepped into the room, noticing the way she jumped at his voice. He headed towards the coffee pot but she stopped him.

"Here, Merry Christmas." She handed him one of the cups before she was gathering up her papers and hoping to make a quick exit; he stopped her.

"What's this for?" he asked putting his coffee down beside him, stilling her by placing his hands on her hips and turning her to face him.

"Peace offering," she stated, "I'm sorry about yesterday," she looked down and he ducked his head to catch her eyes.

"What did I tell you about apologizing?" he joked, getting her to look at him.

"Sorry," she turned back around, he dropped his hands and she grabbed her stuff before heading to the door. She was half way out the door when he grabbed her arm and brought his lips crashing down on hers. Surprised at first she just stood there numbly until what was happening dawned on her and she kissed him back letting her eyes flutter shut. Her papers dropped to the floor and she thanked God she'd already finished her coffee so that she wouldn't have dropped it too. She slid her hands around his neck as he pulled her closer, pressing her body flush against his. She moaned into his mouth causing him to smile against her lips. His tongue ran across her lips once, twice, three times before she allowed him entrance and met him half way. One of his hands came to rest on the side of her face, brushing away fallen hair and cupping her cheek. Lindsay's hand in turn played with the hair at the nape of his neck until they both needed air and had to pull away. Her lips were red and slightly swollen he noted proudly as she slowly opened her eyes and dropped her hands back down to her sides.

"What…what was that?" she stuttered, bending to pick up her papers; Danny bent to help her.

"I'd love to say a peace offering, but it was more tradition." He handed her his stack of papers and pulled her back up with him. She held her disorganized papers and gave him a questioning look.

"Tradition; you mean you kiss every new employee on Christmas?" she asked, feeling stupid for having even entertained the idea that maybe Danny Messer like her as anything more then a fellow co-worker.

"No, I only kiss the cute one's and it's not only on Christmas but if we get caught under that more times today," he pointed up and she followed his finger to find that they were standing under a piece of mistletoe. "Well, let's just say I could really get use to kissing only you Montana." He kissed the base of her neck where it met her shoulder before winking at her and walking down the hall; his Starbucks coffee miraculously still in his hand. She blinked a couple of times in surprise; bringing her hand up to touch her neck where he'd just kissed her. She had no idea who had put the piece of mistletoe there between then and last night but she knew that if she ever found out she'd be torn between killing them and kissing them. Little did she know that she'd already done the latter with the same person who had tacked the mistletoe there in the first place.

End

-Girlygirl


End file.
